Focus and Hold Fast

While life-drama happens, most of us can do without the drama! While we love to read David's psalms of peacefully quiet times, he had a lot of less-than-peaceful days during his lifetime. Psalm 2 speaks of periods of time when kings and rulers raged and plotted against the Godly. By the way, that could be today's headlines! This psalm proclaims The Messiah, God's only Son (Jesus) installed in Zion, the holy mountain, Who has been given [by God] the nations and the very ends of the earth (V.6-8). "You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware." (V.9). In these days when fear and despair threaten to upend us, let us do as is commanded: "Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to The Son that He not become angry, and you perish in the way ... How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" (V.11-12). Really, spiritual peace and rest is a matter of focus and discipline; setting aside those things which draw us away from The Father and diminish Christ [in us]; it is embracing and holding fast to The Rock, The Refuge, The Strong Tower, The Deliverer. Focus and hold fast.

First Call

Perhaps you remember the 1984 comedy "Ghostbusters," and their byline: "who ya gonna call?" Those who called them had no idea what to expect, and in some cases regretted the call! God said in Psalm 50:15, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” It's not uncommon that we have a list of emergency contacts who get the first call when we're in need. Sometimes those we call, however, are unavailable or unable to deliver us from whatever trouble we are facing. God isn't telling us we shouldn't an emergency contact list, however, He is making Himself known He is the One His children should call, and deliverance is certain. God is of unlimited power ... omnipotent. Furthermore, unlike a 911 operator who will ask "what is the nature of your emergency," God is also all-knowing (omniscient); there is no knowledge outside of Himself. It is imperative we comprehend the full scope of these truths: God is unaware of nothing (He knows everything), and He possess the full power to deliver. I must confess my emergency contact list is in a particular order, as I suppose it should be. Because God is all-knowing and all-powerful - He also never sleeps nor slumbers - and He has promised to uphold His children by His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10), there really is none other so equipped to rescue us from our troubles. Where is God in your list of emergency contacts? He should be our ... first call.

All-Knowing and Trustworthy

Have you ever met a "know it all" - at least, that's what Mom called a person who seemed to "think" he or she knew everything and didn't mind sharing it! I've heard that it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt! Psalm 139 is one of the greatest chapters in Scripture as it speaks to the only One Who has all knowledge - that is, God Himself. David writes, "You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all." (Psalm 139:2-4 NASB). God is omniscient - He is All-Knowing; there is nothing about me or you or anything else that God does not know! He knows each one of us better than we know ourselves! Furthermore, God is completely trustworthy with all that information; what do I mean by that? Well, Verse 5 says, "You have enclosed (encircled) me behind and before, and [You have] placed Your hand upon me." God's intimate knowledge of His children is safe with Him; He uses it to protect and help us, caring for us in ways we cannot fully imagine.  I'm fairly confident none of us could trust such intimate and complete knowledge with one another - not even our closest friends - because we are sinful and have a tendency to deal harshly and judgmentally with each other at times. That is never God's purpose: "I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB). We can take comfort and joy in our All-Knowing God - Who knows us altogether - to use His knowledge always for our good and His glory. Praise be to The Father ... All-Knowing and Trustworthy.

Christ at Home

Common [Southern] words of hospitality are “help yourself” or “make yourself at home.”   Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean get up and do it yourself or to kick your shoes off nor is it an invitation to take a seat in Mister Bill’s recliner! It’s no secret how deeply the Apostle Paul loved and was devoted to Jesus Christ.  Why, then, would he write these words: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ  for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Romans 9:3, ESV).  This tells us he was willing to relinquish all Christ was to him for the sake of his friends – those who didn’t know Jesus his Savior.  I suspect few of us fully comprehend the seriousness of Paul’s statement.  Oswald Chambers puts it like this: “Paul said he knew how to be a ‘doormat’ without resenting it, because the mainspring of his life was devotion to Jesus.”  Here, God [through Paul] is describing the depth of commitment He longs for.  Paul’s relinquishing of himself to God is also heard in these words, “I will most gladly spend and be spent …” (2 Corinthians 12:15).  You see, not easily but quite simply, God wants to hear us say, “Father, come on in – make Yourself at home in my heart." It's the home He desires most.

Hear Him Speak

Most vehicles today come with many things ... automatic: for example, windows, door locks, mirror adjustments, etc. Driving Mister Bill's truck recently, I was re-introduced to hand-crank windows and manual door locks; I gave up on adjusting the side mirrors! In times of Bible apps, podcasts, and online church, it seems lots of Believers have abandoned good, old-fashioned, personal Bible study. Don't get me wrong, I listen to podcasts as I drive and use a Bible app as I am waiting, but those wonderful tools cannot (and should not) replace a personal time of opening God's Word and digging Its precious treasures in The Presence of Its Author. Read just a few things written about the days in which we now live: 1 Timothy 4:1 - "in later times some will depart from the faith" ... Matthew 24:11 - "false prophets will arise and lead many astray" ... Matthew 24:12 - "the love of many will grow cold." I wonder how much of the falling away, the departing from faith, the being led astray can be attributed to God's children's failure to devote personal time to God's Word - the lamp to our feet and the light to our path (Psalm 119:105). We've become content and satisfied listening to what God has said to someone else, what someone else has dug from the riches of God's Word, and we do not see the need to do the diggin' ourselves. Be sure, hand-cranking that window wasn't all that fun - I'd much prefer my own car with its electric windows; God has called each of us to know Him, and it will never be enough for a true disciple to hear about Jesus. Let me encourage you to blow the dust off that Bible, open it, and let God speak to you personally through His timeless words of truth. Yes ... hear Him speak.